Baba Ramdev

The despite their emphasis on “transparency”, the Baba Ramdev camp today provided only sketchy details of the assets and finances of the four trusts run by the yoga guru.

Although the declaration of assets was made shortly after the Patanjali Yogpeeth issued a press release stating that Ramdev had decided to go on a “maun vrat”, both the yoga guru and his aide, Acharya Balakrishna, addressed the press conference.

According to the information revealed, while the four trusts have a “capital” of Rs 426.19 crore accrued through donations and sale of medicines, they have incurred an expenditure — including on social service — of Rs 785.09 crore so far.

Balakrishna said the Divya Yoga Mandir Trust — the first of the trusts formed by the yoga guru — has a “capital” of Rs 249.63 crore and has so far spent Rs 685.25 crore.

Similarly, the Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust has a “capital” of Rs 164.80 crore and has incurred an expenditure of Rs 53.92 crore.

Bharat Swabhimaan Trust and Acharyakul Shiksha Sansthan have a combined “capital” of just under Rs 12 crore with their expenditure adding up to roughly the same amount.

Balakrishna, however, gave no details about the companies being run by these trusts, nor did he reveal the source of funds. He said details about the companies can be obtained from the Registrar of Companies, while other details including the Income-Tax returns filed by the trusts could be extracted using the Right to Information Act. “Anybody can seek details from the ROC or through the RTI route.